New Lieberman Retooling Race as Independent

Just one week ago, national Democrats united to try to nudge Senator Joseph I. Lieberman out of his race for re-election after his defeat at the hands of his antiwar rival, Ned Lamont, in the Connecticut Democratic primary.

But today Mr. Lieberman appears to be in the race to stay, running as a retooled independent candidate who is taking on both political parties, and Connecticut is already seeing a full-throated re-enactment of the men’s blistering primary battle.

Far from sulking in defeat, Senator Lieberman has fired most of his senior aides, energized his broad base of donors from his campaigns for president and vice president, produced a new television advertisement explaining his political intentions, and attacked Mr. Lamont over the London terror plot.

The senator appears so emboldened that in spite of the Democratic unity around Mr. Lamont, some Washington Democrats are now acknowledging that a Lieberman victory in November is a distinct possibility. According to guests at a fund-raiser for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Hamptons on Saturday, Mrs. Clinton — who is supporting Mr. Lamont — said that Mr. Lieberman had more than a 50-50 chance of winning re-election. (Clinton aides said they could not confirm or deny the remark; one of the aides said that if Mrs. Clinton had discussed the race, she might have been referring to a new poll that had Mr. Lieberman slightly ahead.)

In a state where Republican and independent voters make up a majority of the electorate, Mr. Lieberman is still developing a message about bipartisanship, but his aides say it will involve adopting positions from both parties and being willing to criticize Democrats as well as Republicans. Meanwhile, Mr. Lamont, a Greenwich millionaire, now has to calibrate his own identity as self-described liberal.

“Given the demographics of Connecticut, it’s still an uphill battle for Lamont, even as the Democratic nominee,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic consultant and official with the Democratic National Committee, which is supporting Mr. Lamont.

“Ned came out of nowhere to beat an incumbent, but now he has to rally the party and reach out to independents,” Ms. Brazile said. “Joe Lieberman won 48 percent of the Democrats in the primary. Now he has to maintain that and build on it. Can he? Sure he can. It’s way too soon to call this race, because it’s going to be a dogfight to the finish.”

Mr. Lieberman also faces a Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, but on Monday President Bush’s spokesman refused to say that the White House was endorsing him, reinforcing concerns about his viability and suggesting that Mr. Lieberman could mine Republican votes.

Lamont advisers said that they had hoped Democratic pressure on Mr. Lieberman to quit would have been unbearable. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has called on Mr. Lieberman to drop out, but other Democratic leaders have questioned whether it makes sense to take on the senator — and perhaps anger him — when he appears determined to run and relatively formidable right now.

“No one is going to say anything that is directly related to trying to hurt Joe Lieberman,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said to reporters on Friday. “However, I just have to say that Joe has to play on the field of Connecticut.”

In the absence of Democratic pressure, the Lamont campaign is seeking and receiving other forms of help. Several Democratic senators have donated to Mr. Lamont, including Mr. Reid, who contributed $5,000 the day after the primary. Former President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton have offered to campaign for Mr. Lamont — his aides say the offer will be accepted — and the Lamont campaign is setting up meetings with Mrs. Clinton and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

As the newly proclaimed Democratic nominee, Mr. Lamont is moving to adopt a general election strategy that attracts more moderate voters, who are crucial to victory in Connecticut elections. He is also seeking at least two experienced fund-raising aides to tap more donors in Connecticut and nationwide, particularly those who are excited by the antiwar message.

Photo

After conceding defeat in the Democratic primary on Aug. 8, above, Senator Lieberman has fired most of his senior aides, energized his broad base of donors.Credit
Bob Child/Associated Press

Yet Mr. Lamont’s staffing needs are also one of several signs that his rookie bid for statewide election is still evolving: He lacks such basic political tools as an opposition research effort to ferret out the sources of Mr. Lieberman’s campaign contributions and other tidbits that might embarrass the senator. Mr. Lamont’s communications and advance operations also need to be expanded, said Tom Swan, the campaign manager.

“There is a need for us to adjust a lot, to adjust significant pieces of the campaign and tap our thousands of volunteers,” Mr. Swan said. “Having said that, I believe we have a lot to build off of to make that easier.”

Some Lamont allies have privately expressed disdain for the idea of bringing on any outside consultants, noting that most big-name Democratic consultants had shown little willingness to help Mr. Lamont when he was an obscure businessman running a long-shot campaign.

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“I don’t want to hire any of those big-fee consultant types from Washington who just want to come in and make money off of Ned,” Mr. Swan said. “We won the primary on Ned’s message; we can win the general in a similar way.”

While Mr. Lieberman faces the challenge of running as a man without a party, at least he is widely known in Connecticut; Mr. Lamont is still introducing himself to swaths of voters, and has to hone his political pitch to appeal to those who are not liberal or primarily concerned with the war in Iraq. During the primary, Mr. Lamont favored an expanded federal role in health care and education; his advisers say he will stick with those ideas and find ways to sell them to new audiences.

“There isn’t a Republicans for Lamont group yet, but I’m confident that we’ll have the message to organize one pretty quickly,” Mr. Swan said.

At the same time, Mr. Lamont is not abandoning his liberal allies, even those who might be polarizing figures in a state like Connecticut. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who drew notice for appearing on television behind Mr. Lamont during the candidate’s primary victory speech, said yesterday that he spoke to the candidate by phone earlier in the day.

“I told Lamont, don’t listen to the right wing saying you can’t win with Sharpton and Jesse Jackson by your side, because you already did win with Sharpton and Jackson with you,” Mr. Sharpton said. “He can’t let the right wing pressure him in subtracting supporters from his side — he has to focus on addition.”

Lieberman aides said that Mr. Lamont’s association with Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Jackson — both of whom campaigned vigorously for Mr. Lamont — was a political albatross that helped explain why Mr. Lieberman believed he could win over a majority of voters.

“Primary night was the first time that many Connecticut voters saw Lamont on TV, and he’s surrounding himself with two of the more divisive and problematic figures in the Democratic Party,” said Dan Gerstein, a veteran Lieberman aide who was appointed communications director for the campaign last week.

Mr. Swan said that Mr. Lamont welcomed the support from the two men, but added that the tableau on primary night was not purposeful.

“We wanted folks from Connecticut up there with Ned, but plans sometimes don’t happen,” Mr. Swan said. “Folks decided to go up to the party and get up on stage. And you couldn’t see supporters like Lowell Weicker because they were in the audience, Lowell because of his hip replacement,” Mr. Swan added, referring to the former senator.

For the most part, the Lamont campaign and its allies see Mr. Lamont’s relative lack of polish as an asset and not a weakness, and see little need to sand the edges of his image or deportment. Mr. Lamont has developed a reputation for speaking his mind and admitting mistakes, like apologizing yesterday for Mr. Swan’s remark the other day about Waterbury, a Lieberman stronghold, as a place where “the forces of slime meet the forces of evil.”

“I’m sure he’ll become better at the political stuff as time goes by,” said Sharon Palmer, the president of the American Federation of Teachers’ Connecticut branch. “But I think that that element of not being a slick politician is appealing to a lot of people.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: New Lieberman Retooling Race As Independent. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe